


Rusted Gears

by skycompass



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 18:05:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4272921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skycompass/pseuds/skycompass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An exploration of the Maverick Hunter organization from the eyes of rookie Hunters. You can't see every gear, nook and cranny from the top, after all. What makes the Reploids of this organization tick? What injustices do they face from the hands of their fellow Hunters, superiors, and humans? And what kind of lies have to exist for an organization like this to simply be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rusted Gears

Breathe in, breathe out. In and out. That was supposed to calm one’s nerves, right? Pixel exhaled, and looked up to the imposing building standing before her, the familiar emblem of the Maverick Hunters boldly emblazoned across its center. Something fluttered in her stomach and she drew a sharp breath. Nope, it wasn’t helping. She was still nervous, and now she looked silly standing in the middle of the road doing deep breathing exercises.

She exhaled again, set her jaw, and started walking towards the entrance. She was doing this; she wouldn’t let nerves stop her.

The lobby of the Maverick Hunters Headquarters wasn’t quite what the orange Reploid was expecting. It was plain, and the walls and floor were various shades of steel blue. A few potted plants sat in the corners of the room, and closer inspection revealed they were biomechanical.  There were a few benches and table in the center of the room, which occupied by several Reploids. Civilian models, she realized. Of course. The lobby was for civilians. She wasn’t sure why she’d expected to see active Hunters wandering around as soon as she entered the building. Well, it was just one tiny thing on the ten foot long list of misconceptions she was sure she had. Now, to find the application counter.

It was a simple affair to line up, obtain the application papers and fill them in. The problems started when she brought the papers back up to the counter for the obviously bored receptionist to look over. He flipped through them quickly. Was he even reading it properly?

“Mhm, Pixel is it? So, navigator right?”

What? She stared dumbly at him, but he continued to drone on. She thumped her hands on the desk lightly, causing him to stop and look up. “No, no, wait a minute! I don’t want to be a navigator, I want to go into field work!”

The receptionist blinked at her, and then an expression of amusement crossed his face. He leaned in, scanning her appearance. “Really, a female model in field work? That’s the most hilarious thing I’ve heard all week.” He smirked, and Pixel frowned. “Females belong with the navigators. Get a clu- ow!” He flinched as a stack of paper came down on his head in full force. Pixel started, and looked up to see a stern-looking, purple armored female Reploid standing behind the receptionist. She shot the receptionist a look, then greeted Pixel with a smile.

“Don’t mind this nitwit here. We’re not all like that,” she assured, and picked up Pixel’s papers. “Construction, hm? Your strength will be useful on the field.” She flipped through the rest of the pages, and nodded. “Come with me,” she beckoned.

As the two walked down a hallway to the right of the lobby, Rivet turned her head towards the orange Reploid. “So, Pixel, you must have an interesting reason to join the Hunters. It’s not every day we get a gynoid walking in the front doors to sign themselves up, especially for field work.”

Pixel shrugged, looking down at the steel floor. “It’s not that interesting. The Hunters are doing their best to protect everyone, and I just wanted to do my part.”

Rivet hummed. “That’s a good reason, but you could do your part as a Navigator just as easily.”

“Navigation work doesn’t sound that appealing,” Pixel replied. “I figured field work would fit me better.”

“I see,” was all the response she got.

Before long, they stopped in front of a door. The purple Reploid turned to Pixel with a smile. “The next step is a series of frame tests to confirm your physical fitness for the job. Don’t worry, as long as you have nothing faulty you should pass with ease,” she said, and stepped back. “I look forward to seeing you in the Hunters. Maybe I’ll see you in my squad one day.” She waved and left before Pixel could get in another word.

She’s a Hunter, the blue haired Reploid realized. A female Hunter in field work, just like what she wanted. Pixel smiled, and entered the room.

The frame tests took a few hours. She had to go through a multitude of scans and motions to demonstrate her fitness. It was like a check-up.  The scans identified one or two parts that needed replacement – she already knew that, of course – but other than that, she was given a clean bill of health.

After that, she was given a flash drive containing all the basics a Hunter would need to know, and told to come back the following day prepared to go through combat training. With only those instructions, she’d been booted out of the building and left to her own devices.

The construction Reploid stared at the tiny flash drive adorned with the Hunter symbol. Probably contained all the information she’d need to know. Still, something seemed… lacking. She expected more out of the process than just a check-up and this flash drive. That must be just how the Hunters worked, she supposed. She pushed her hair aside to plug the flash drive into the port in the back of her neck, and the drive instantly appeared in her internal processes. She let her body autopilot her back to her flat as she reviewed the files.

The information files, she expected. A basic review of the Hunters’ purpose and an overview of the recruit process. Seemed she had to go through a week of probation before she’d be fully admitted as a Hunter. Okay, that wouldn’t be too hard. Probably. She inhaled deeply as the butterflies came back. Darn nerves.

There were files of weapons too. A pistol, buster, sword, lance… she could tell that they were simple and relatively easy to use. Standard issue weapons, most likely. Schematics were even provided, since Hunters were required to take care of their own weapons. She flipped through them quickly before moving on to other files.

Common enemy data, strategy and tactical information, formations… video and motion data?? She looked at the flash drive’s capacity. One terabyte. One whole terabyte of information, and they expected her to get it all down in a day? She frowned. Well, she’d make do somehow. Thankfully she went early in the day. It was only hitting noon now, so she had several hours to review everything.

The trip home was short, so she was already standing in front of the door to her flat when she finished skimming through the files. With a quick transmit of the key code, the door slid open and she stepped into her home.

It was a tiny place. Reploids didn’t need a lot of space to live, so cheap housing like Pixel’s flat consisted of a small room with a recharge capsule in the corner and a cabinet for life tanks and maintenance equipment. She’d added some decoration in the form of pictures of her colleagues taped onto her walls, which were painted a calming deep green. Biomechanical plants lined her window sill, and her tabletop was littered with small puzzle pieces and other mechanical parts. A bin sat by the entrance, almost overflowing with broken parts and other refuse. She had to empty that out today, she noted absently as the door slid shut behind her.

With a deep sigh, she sank into the chair next to the table. The files said she would be living in Hunter quarters if she was recruited, so she would have to give up her tiny space and all her belongings once she was in. It was unfortunate, but she knew she could gift her possessions to her colleagues. After sending off a couple messages, the orange Reploid reopened the files on the flash drive for closer reading. The text files would be quick work, and weapon use and upkeep, even easier. It would be the motion data and strategy files that she’d have to pore over, if she wanted to be any good at being a Hunter. Retrieving a life tank from the cabinet, she sat down and took a deep breath. Time to get working.

 

The next day brought unusually beautiful weather, with rare sunlight peeking through the sparse cloud coverage. The light reflected off the metal of the skyscrapers, illuminating parts of the city with a sort of ethereal glow. It was a beautiful sight, and Pixel normally would have stopped to appreciate it for a moment.

If only she wasn’t so nervous about the training that all she could do was engage in breathing exercises in an effort to calm herself.

There were still a few minutes before she had to report in at the lobby for her training, and the seconds were ticking too slowly. Way too slowly. She wondered if her internal clock was slowing down somehow, except no, her check-up yesterday didn’t identify that as a problem. She took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. She’d reviewed all the motion data and strategies thoroughly. Breathe. She was as prepared as anyone could be for this.

An internal alarm signalled that it was five more minutes before her training. Alright, it was now or never. She entered the lobby, and took the hallway to the left, noting all the other Reploids walking around her. At least she wouldn’t be alone.

They all filed into the large room, and Pixel looked around. If the lobby was plain, than this was like the room of an empty house. The walls were a dull gray, and were decorated only by scratches, dents and burn marks. On the far side of the room, there were dummies set up in a patterned fashion. A purple armored Reploid stood in front of the dummies, arms crossed. It was that female Reploid she’d met the other day. That eased her nerves a bit. She looked around at the other Reploids in the room. They were recruits like her, and they came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. At least half of them were animal-based Reploids, but it was clear they were all male models. She was the only female recruit here.

The nerves came back in a flash, and she retreated to the corner of the room, eager to keep attention off herself. It’ll be fine, she told herself. Even if they laughed at her, she was sure the purple armored Hunter would scold them.

When the recruits stopped trickling in, and the murmuring began rising in volume, the purple Hunter clapped her hands. “Alright recruits, line up!” There was a pause as the recruits scrambled into a line. Pixel moved up from her corner in the room, placing herself between an animaloid and another humanoid. With a nod, the purple Hunter continued. “Good. Today’s the first out of seven days to prove yourselves worthy of becoming a Hunter. My name is Rivet and I’ll be overseeing the first day of training.”

Before she could continue, a rabbit-based Reploid piped up, voice full of condescension. “You’re our instructor? A _girl_?  I could drop you in a hot second.” A couple of the recruits laughed, and Rivet smiled thinly.

“Yes, I am the instructor, and a B-Rank Hunter,” Rivet replied, and the rabbit Reploid snorted.

“Pffft, nice joke. You almost had me going there. So, really, you’re a Navi or a researcher right? You should stop joking around and let a real Hunter handle this.” The rabbit laughed, but no one else joined him.

Rivet was silent, and Pixel wondered if it was because she was considering whether or not to drop him from the process immediately. But soon enough, the purple Hunter spoke up again.

“Alright then,” Rivet smiled sweetly, and a shiver came down Pixel’s spine. Yeah, no, the rabbit Reploid was walking towards his own doom. “Would you like to prove that I’m not a real Hunter?” She shifted into a battle stance, and beckoned him with a hand.

Unfortunately, he didn’t pick up on the danger radiating from Rivet, and stepped forward, eager to take her down. “Heh. Just don’t start crying for mercy halfway through, girly.”

Pixel and the rest of the recruits scrambled back towards the door to give the two space, and waited with bated breaths for the fight to start.

It was hard to tell what happened. The match was over in a flash. The rabbit Reploid had charged with a surprising amount of speed, but before the recruits could tell anything had happened, he was on the floor with Rivet holding him in a chokehold.

She pressed a finger to the rabbit's temple. “If I had a pistol, you’d be dead.” With that, Rivet let go and stood up and turned to walk back to her original position.

It wasn’t enough for the rabbit Reploid though, and with a cry of anger he charged the Hunter. Pixel gasped and some of the recruits cried out in warning. But it didn’t matter, because she twirled to face him with amazing speed, and with one kick sent him flying across the room and into the wall, leaving a dent as he fell to the ground.

She walked up to the struggling rabbit Reploid and looked down at him. “I trust that’s enough for you?” When he nodded weakly, she smiled, and knelt down to pat him on the head. “Good boy.”

It was a few tense minutes as the recruits, including the rabbit Reploid, re-organized themselves into a line. This time, no one dared to speak or even whisper to their neighbour in fear of incurring Rivet’s wrath. She smiled and continued from where she left off.

“As you all know, Maverick Hunters have the responsibility of hunting Mavericks and protecting civilians. It’s a tough job, and we only accept the best of the best. If you’re not ready for that kind of responsibility, I suggest you turn and leave the room now.” A few people shuffled, glancing at the rabbit Reploid’s injuries uncertainly, but in the end none of them moved. “Excellent. Then let’s move on.”

Rivet held up a familiar flash drive. “You all got a flash drive with combat motions, correct? I hope you reviewed them well, because today we’ll be putting that to the test.” She then gestured to the dummies behind her. “The first round of training is with basic firearms. You’ll be shooting these dummies with a weapon of your choice. Split up into two lines, and pick up a weapon from the racks.”

With Rivet’s instructions set out, the recruits did as they were told. Pixel opted for a basic pistol. It was the simplest to use, from the looks of the combat data in the flash drive. As she filed into one of the two lines, she went over the weapon. It was lightly scratched, but well maintained. None of the parts were malfunctioning as far as she could tell. She clasped the weapon with both hands and pointed it at the floor, mimicking the standby position written in the flash drive. Looking around her, she found that not all of the recruits were doing the same. Rivet had yet to say a word about their actions, however. Perhaps it was a test to see who read the files and who didn’t, Pixel mused.

Practice began with little fanfare and silence from the recruits, as the memory of Rivet’s ferocious strength was still fresh in their mind. A majority of them were decent shots, but there were a few who managed to hit every target, and then some who were atrocious shots. No one dared to laugh at them though. It didn’t take long for the line to reach Pixel, and she stood nervously in front of the dummies with her pistol at the ready.

With a nod from Rivet, Pixel took a deep breath and began firing. The closer dummies were easy to hit, and the recoil from the pistol wasn’t bad. She hit all but one of the dummies in the middle, and only two of the dummies stationed in the far back of the room. A total score of fourteen out of twenty. She frowned, and looked at Rivet, who nodded back at her. It wasn’t a bad first attempt, she guessed.

Training continued until all the recruits could hit fifteen of the twenty targets in three successive rounds, something which took an hour or two. Then, it was switched to moving targets. Again, it took a few hours to reach the level of accuracy required. Then it was onto heavier firearms, and then, with a little rearranging of the dummies, melee weapons.

With the melee weapons, the goal was to clear all the dummies in a set amount of time. For this exercise, Pixel opted for a glaive. Swords and lances didn’t click with her as well, when she tried handling them.

Thankfully, that section of training was completed much more quickly. Before dismissing the group, Rivet addressed them.

“Not bad, guys. I can see a few of you would be a good fit as a marksman. That’s the end of training for today. You, you and you,” she pointed at the rabbit Reploid and a few other recruits, “stay here. The rest of you are dismissed. Tomorrow, you’ll be going through simulated combat training. One of the big guys’ll be watching over you, so rest well today and do your best tomorrow.” She waved them off, and instantly the recruits began talking in hushed voices amongst themselves, filing out of the room quickly. Pixel sighed, relieved it was over for the day.

She left the Hunter Headquarters and returned back to her flat. It was almost sunset now, and the gradient of reds, pinks and oranges in the sky cast a warm light over the city. Tomorrow was simulated combat, Rivet had said. That meant, according to the flash drive, that they would be grouped up and made to run simulated missions. Already! The whole training process seemed incredibly rushed, she thought. And what was this about one of the big guys watching over them? She shook her head. It wouldn’t do her any good to worry about it now. Just to be safe, she’d skim over the combat and strategy data one more time before turning in for the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Ten billion thanks to MysteryMuse for beta-ing the fic! Ten million more thanks in advance for all the future harassment I'll be giving her as this fic continues...
> 
> There really aren't enough gen fics for Megaman X, so I decided to give it a try. One of my favourite things to do is contemplate the state of Reploid society as well as Reploid quirks and culture, so I thought why not put it into fic? My aim with this fic is to explore the structure of the Maverick Hunter organization without focusing on our popular Hunter trio. Thus X, Zero and Axl will be showing up only as minor characters in this fic, but they WILL be showing up, along with other known members of the Hunter organization. The focus will remain on the crew of OCs that have been constructed for this fic, however. I also plan on showing some silly quirks that are bound to arise from a society of robots interacting with each other.
> 
> Some notes about this chapter. As much as it would be nice to think sexism wouldn't exist in Reploid society, it does. It has to, considering they tend to be built with a specific gender in mind (thanks to humans shoving their damn gender roles on them). It's also no coincidence that Navigators tend to be female (ignoring the development reasons for this, which are sexist anyway). Thankfully, Rivet's here to kick the ass out of misogynistic Hunter wannabes.
> 
> As a bonus for this chapter, have an illustration of Pixel's civilian appearance. I find that visuals help me connect to characters in a fic. http://i.gyazo.com/aa7d0be3b2684e217bc80f208ff2a995.png


End file.
